Illuminated illustrations of Froissart; Selected from the ms. in the British museum

By Jean Froissart

Illuminated Illustrations of Froissart is a lovely collection of illustrations from two volumes of the MS. of the British Museum. You will enjoy looking through the colorful miniature illustrations of Jean Froissart's chronicles.

• Language: English
• Publisher: DigiCat
• Release date: Jul 21, 2022
• ISBN: 8596547091868

Book preview

Jean Froissart

Illuminated illustrations of Froissart; Selected from the ms. in the British museum

EAN 8596547091868

DigiCat, 2022

Contact: [e-mail]

Table of Contents

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LIST OF PLATES,

PLATE I.

PLATE II.

PLATE III.

PLATE IV.

PLATE V.

PLATE VI.

PLATE VII.

PLATE VIII.

PLATE IX.

PLATE X.

PLATE XI.

PLATE XII.

PLATE XIII.

PLATE XIV.

PLATE XV.

PLATE XVI.

PLATE XVII.

PLATE XVIII.

PLATE XIX.

PLATE XX.

PLATE XXI.

PLATE XXII.

PLATE XXIII.

PLATE XXIV.

PLATE XXV.

PLATE XXVI.

PLATE XXVII.

PLATE XXVIII.

PLATE XXIX.

PLATE XXX.

PLATE XXXI.

PLATE XXXII.

PLATE XXXIII.

PLATE XXXIV.

PLATE XXXV.

PLATE XXXVI.

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Table of Contents

ILLUMINATED ILLUSTRATIONS TO FROISSART.

The

present Volume completes the selection of Pictures made from the two volumes of the MS. in the British Museum. As these volumes, however, consist only of the Fourth Book of Froissart, none of the Illustrations have reference to any of the first three Books of the history. It has been determined, therefore, at the earnest solicitation of very many of the Subscribers to the present series, to publish a selection from the first, second and third Books, contained in the celebrated MS. in the Bibliothèque Royale at Paris, to correspond in extent and price with that now completed.

By this arrangement, the entire Chronicles will be illustrated; and as the drawings in the Paris MS. are, in many respects, very superior to those in the two volumes at the Museum, it is hoped that the publication of the additional twelve Numbers will give general satisfaction.

The first Number from the Paris MS. will be published on the first of January, price 3s. 6d.

December 1st, 1843.

ILLUMINATED

ILLUSTRATIONS OF FROISSART.

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ILLUMINATED

ILLUSTRATIONS OF FROISSART.

SELECTED FROM

The MS.

IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

Table of Contents

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BY H. N. HUMPHREYS, ESQ.

LONDON:

WILLIAM SMITH, 113, FLEET STREET.

MDCCCXLIV.

LONDON:

BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS

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Table of Contents

The

idea of publishing these illuminations was suggested by the great success which has attended the reprint of the Chronicles of Monstrelet and Froissart; the extensive sale of which books bears strong testimony to the searching spirit of inquiry now abroad. We are no longer content to read our early history through the filtered medium of a compilation, but seek it in the vivid pages of the chroniclers, who drew from the life, and sketched off in simple and quaint, but earnest language, the stirring panorama of their times. But the pleasure of reading such an historian as Froissart, in an ordinary printed book, is small when compared with that of reading him in one of the curious manuscripts of his own time.

To unclose the gilded clasps of one of those ponderous velvet-bound volumes, to turn over the crisp vellum, and read the story of those exciting times traced in quaint Gothic characters by careful clerks; but above all to admire the curious and elaborate borderings of the illuminated pages, and dwell on the miniature pictures, wrought with the greatest care and beauty by the most skilful contemporary limners, to embody more tangibly the narration of the author, is indeed a pleasure;—yet one which but few can enjoy. To afford that enjoyment to the many, and place before them some of the most interesting of these rare illuminations, is the object of the present publication.

The British Museum contains a magnificent MS. of Froissart, profusely illuminated with such miniature pictures. This MS. came into the Museum with the Harleian Collection, but how it found its way into that collection is unknown; we possess, however, only two of the volumes, the other two being in the Bibliothèque Royale of Paris. The work appears to be one of Flemish art, probably executed by some Flemish artist resident in Paris, as the public buildings in Paris are very correctly delineated, whilst those of other places are frequently altogether imaginary. It seems likely that the work was executed for Philip De Commines the historian, as it was evidently produced in his time, and as the arms of De Commines frequently occur in the ornamental borderings in the way it was usual to introduce those of the person for whom such a book was illuminated. The MS. is supposed to have been written between the years 1460 and 1480, very shortly after the time of Froissart; so that, though it is true that artists of that time painted all costumes from those of their own day, yet, as the fashions did not change so rapidly then as now, we may fairly imagine